Paul Fredricks
| Paul Fredricks | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Paul Gerald Fredricks July 14, 1918 |
| Died | July 4, 2010 |
| Occupation | Jazz musician |
| Years active | 1936–2001 |
| Spouse(s) | Theresa Elnicky (1924–2004) (her death) |
Paul G. Fredricks (July 14, 1918 – July 4, 2010) was a German-American brass musician of the Big Bands Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He is known for his unique skills as a trumpeter and left his mark on a range of larger bands such as the orchestras of Alvino Rey, Charlie Spivak, Les Brown's Band of Renown, and Mel Torme's Mel-Tones, in the jazz music scene of the period surrounding World War II . He later ventured off with his own New Orleans-style Dixieland jazz band The Paul Fredricks Orchestra, later The Crescent City Stompers. He was featured in some Hollywood films including A. Edward Sutherland and RKO Pictures' Sing Your Worries Away (1942), starring Buddy Ebsen, Patsy Kelly and Bert Lahr.
Fredricks' grandparents were members of the German migration to the States in the 19th-century. Raised near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received his first trumpet as a gift from his parents at the age of nine. He developed his skills playing on his own and in several local bands as a young boy until he left home at 16 to pursue his dreams in New York City's music scene of the time.
Throughout his eight decades as a professional musician, he cultivated a versatile career and recognized musical style. Fredricks began his professional music career in New York City at the age of 16 playing gigs at the Lincoln Hotel in New York City and the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, a launch pad of Frank Sinatra. He continued playing with big bands before and after the war, during which he voluntarily entered to serve in the United States Army in the Asia-Pacific Arena. In the years surrounding the war, he toured across the country and was featured in shows in Hollywood, California; The Roseland Ballroom, The Paramount Theater and The Palladium/Academy of Music in New York. In 1941, after Alvino Rey’s group played at New York's Paramount Theater, which led to greater exposure, they became one of the most popular acts in the country, recording top ten hits and making appearances in Hollywood films including A. Edward Sutherland and RKO Pictures' Sing Your Worries Away (1942), and others. Rey re-organized the orchestra, expanding the brass section including Paul Fredricks.
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